The Golden Bears, who improved to 5-0 on the year and handed the Runnin' Rebels their first loss after five wins, limited UNLV to just 29.7 percent shooting from the floor. Patrick Christopher drew leading scorer Wink Adams (16.2 ppg entering the game) as his primary assignment and held him to 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting.

In addition to Randle, four other Cal players scored in double figures, led by Jamal Boykin's 15 points. Christopher and Theo Robertson added 12 apiece and Jorge Gutierrez came off the bench for 10.

The Bears missed their first five shots of the game, but only gave up one bucket over the first 2:42. Cal then sank 11 of its next 12 shots, including four three-pointers, on its way to a 24-11 advantage. The Bears led, 39-26, at the break.

In the second half, Cal expanded it lead to 20 points at 54-34 with 13:43 to go. However, UNLV whittled away to make the score 57-48 with 4:09 left. At that point, Boykin converted a three-point play and the Bears maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the night.

Cal will next play Florida State, a 58-47 victor over Cincinnati, for the tournament title Saturday at 7:30 p.m.